Ramna Batamul bomb blast: HC verdict on 8 May

The High Court has fixed May 8 for delivering its verdict on the death references and appeals of the 2001 sensational Ramna Batamul carnage case.

A High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akter set the date for the delivery of the verdict on Wednesday. 

Previously on February 18, the bench kept the death references (trial court documents for confirmation of death sentences), and the appeals, filed by the convicted accused in the cases, as CAV (meaning the verdict will be delivered any day), after concluding hearing on these.

On April 14, 2001, two bombs went off during 1408 Pahela Baishakh celebrations organised by Chhayanaut at the capital's Ramna Batamul.

The bomb blasts, which shook the nation, left 10 people dead and several others injured.

On June 23, 2014 a Dhaka court sentenced Mufti Abdul Hannan, Moulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, and Arif Hasan Suman to death.

Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Moulana Yahiya, Moulana Shawkat Osman, Moulana Abdur Rouf, and Shahadat Ullah were sentenced to life in prison.

The convicts are allegedly members of Islamist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.

Mufti Abdul Hannan, one of the country's most notorious militants, involved in plotting and carrying out all the terror attacks by Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, was executed on April 13, 2017 at Kashimpur High Security Prison.

Hannan was executed for carrying out a grenade attack on the then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet on May 21, 2004. Some other accused in that case are absconding.